War of the Multiverse: Return of the Nexus Force
by Bloxxerboy
Summary: The Nexus Force has retreated from their universe, but the Maelstrom didn’t stay trapped. Now they seek to stop a prophecy from fulfilling. But what good are a group of teenagers in stopping a chaotic threat?
1. Prologue

**All material used belongs to their respective owners.**

* * *

The Nexus Force. An organization founded by the explorers who discovered Planet Crux with one goal in mind; to save the remnents of the planet from the chaotic Maelstrom and save Imagination. For two years, Minifigures from many different universes have answered the call to join the organization to combat the Maelstrom to take back Planet Crux. And in those two years, the Nexus Force has made a lot of progress. That all changed in 2012, our time.

In that year, many members of the Nexus Force suddenly went missing. The organization had no idea why those members disappeared, but one thing was certain; the Nexus Force was left vulnerable. The Maelstrom, who used to only grow stronger and a slow and reasonable pace, suddenly grew stronger at a faster pace and became more aggressive. Many remaining Nexus Force members either became infected by the Maelstrom, forced to join its ranks as Stromlings, or worse, killed. This chaotic force never gave mercy to those defeated in the latter battles.

Eventually, the Maelstrom has grown so strong that the Nexus Force were left with one option.

* * *

"We don't have any other options. We must evacuate all of our surviving members from this universe as soon as possible," a Minifigure wearing a white and orange lab coat said, his goggles hiding the dismay in his eyes and claw pack inactive on his back.

"Doctor, you can't be serious," another Minifigure said back. He wore blue and silver armor, has blonde, neat hair and his sword and shield strapped to his back.

"Duke, if I was joking then we wouldn't be in this situation right now. We are losing too much members to the Maelstrom. I don't want anymore innocent people losing their lives fighting a war that we are losing," the Minifigure, whose name is Doctor Overbuild, replied.

"No, we can still win this war. Vanda, did your scientists find anything that suggests why the Maelstrom would suddenly start to behave like this?" the armored minifgure named Duke Exeter asked another Minigifure in red ninja clothing. Her mask lay around her neck and she had black, messy hair with a purple streak. Two purple katanas are strapped behind her back.

"Nothing. My scientists haven't made any progress in understanding this sudden change," the ninja named Vanda Darkflame replied. "In all honesty, I share Overbuild'ed s perspective on the matter as well."

"No, we can't lose hope. We can still win this. Hael, back me up please." Duke turned his head to a fourth Minifigure who had long, messy brown hair. He wore a green vest, brown pants, and yellow shoulder tassels. His cutlass is sheathed on his belt.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. As much as don't want this war to end like this, a pirate must know when we must retreat for the safety of our crew mates." The Minifigure, named Hael Storm, replied.

"If we must retreat, then how do we stop the Maelstrom from spreading any further?"

"Well, the Assembly has been working on something. Problem is, it's only a prototype," Dr. Overbuild answered.

"Well what about the Nexus Tower? What about the last remnants of the Imagination Nexus?"

"I also may have an idea for that, but I will need everyone's help."

* * *

Almost immediately did the Nexus Force get to work. Weeks preparation passed, and soon the protectors of what remained of the Imagination Nexus was ready. They converted the tower into a spaceship, and used the Assembly's prototype to form a portal to another universe. They left their universe, and the Maelstrom, behind. The Nexus Force believed that the Maelstrom wouldn't be able to leave the universe with the lack of an interuniversal portal system.

They thought wrong.

For a year the Maelstrom grew stronger, infecting technology the Nexus Force left behind to use for themselves. Until one day, when they were finally able to reverse-engineer their own portal generator. Almost immediately did the Darkitect send out a fleet of Stromlings out of the universe. For three years, the fleet invaded other universes they came across, but the Maelstrom had another goal besides multiversal domination. For they knew of a prophecy not known by the Nexus Force.

A group of friends, still very creative and imaginative, would be guided by a Mythran to bring the multiverse together against the Maelstrom. The Darkitect refused to let that happened. He ordered the fleet to find this group of friends and end them before the prophecy could be fulfilled.

The fleet's search would bring them to Earth, where the group of friends lived. This is where soon-to-be Fireteam Beacon's journey will begin.

But I must warn you now, dear reader. This story will not be for the faint of heart.

* * *

 **A.N: Alright. Third time's the charm. I wasn't satisfied with my last attempt to write this fanfic, so I decided to rewrite it. Again. This time however, I've gotten better at writing. Read other fanfics and books, joined some roleplays, and overall learned from other writers, so maybe this time I'll be satisfied with what I write.**

 **Quick warning. Like the narrator said earlier, this story will not be for the faint of heart. There will be more violence and some language involved this time, hence why I changed the age rating to teen.**

 **How often I update, and if I update at all, will depend on how busy I am and how motivated I am to update. In advance, I apologize if I take a while to update.**

 **Alright, I think I've said enough. See you next update.**


	2. This isn't Another Dream, is it?

**LEGO Universe belongs to the LEGO Company.**

* * *

An adolescent boy slowly opens his eyes, slowly starting to wake up. As he does, he realizes more and more that he is in a place he doesn't recognize. Pine trees can be seen grown high into the sky while tall grass surrounds the boy. Yet, there was something peculiar about the forest.

The sky wasn't the normal shade of blue that he was used to. Instead, it was colored a dark shade of purple. A rather big contrast to the dim light-blue glow the trees and the grass gave off. This wasn't something the boy was used to.

 _What? Where the heck am I?_ He asked himself as he sat up, taking the time to analyze his environment. _Is this a dream?_ _This isn't like the other dreams that I have been having the previous nights._ The boy pushed himself off the ground and got on his feet, brushing some strands of his short black hair out of his face's way.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" The boy heard, recognizing the male voice.

"Armando?" He whispered to himself, beginning his way towards the voice. He cautiously approached it, as one would do in an unknown area.

The boy followed the voice to the edge of the forest, which turned out to be an island suspended in the air. On closer observation, more floating islands were also visible, albeit far from here. Looking down the edge of the island, the boy saw a swirling vortex far below all of the islands, producing what looked like dark clouds from its bright center.

"What?" The boy said to himself, somehow vaguely recognizing some of this world he found himself in.

"Andrew? Is that you?" The voice said again, this time close. The owner of the voice slowly came out from behind one of the trees, revealing another adolescent boy with brown hair and medium skin color.

The other boy, now known as Andrew, sighed in relief. "Looks like I'm not alone here," he said in reply to Armando's question.

Soon afterward, five more people their age came to where they are, attracted by the two boys' voices.

One boy has neat, short black hair and fair skin color. He also wears eyeglasses.

Another boy has neat, short brown hair and very fair skin color.

The third boy has the same hair and skin color as the second boy, but his hair is curly and a bit messier.

The fourth boy also has black hair combed to the side and fair skin color.

The only girl out of the seven teenagers has white skin color, green eyes, and blonde hair tied into a ponytail. She also dons eyeglasses.

Andrew recognized all of them respectively as Jacob, Tynan, Aidan, Christian, and Liliana.

"Does anyone know where the heck we are?" Tynan asked.

"No clue," Liliana replied.

"Actually, I'm not sure why, but I recognize this place," Andrew spoke.

"So what is this place?" Jacob asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. I could've sworn that I've seen something like this in a video game or something."

Suddenly, a new person approached the group from the forest. It was strangely in the shape of a LEGO Minifigure. Its body is light-blue and slightly translucent, giving off the same glow as the trees and the grass. It had no visible mouth, but its eyes were lighter than its body. A circle is shown in the middle of its torso, several smaller circles being seen inside of the bigger circle.

"This world used to be so beautiful," the Minifigure said with a female voice in a sad tone. It caught the attention of the group, the teenagers turning to face it. "That was until everything fell apart."

"Who are you?" Aidan asked.

"Wait...are you a Mythran?" Andrew asked.

"I guess I should've expected you to recognize my kind since you used to work with us," the Mythran said.

"So this is supposed to be LEGO Universe?"

"Correct."

"Why are we here, then?" This time it was Armando's turn to ask.

"Because all of you are part of something big. Something that will bring the entire multiverse together."

"Oh God, we became protagonists, didn't we?" Jacob muttered.

"Apparently," Christian replied.

"You're joking us, right? We're just a bunch of teens trying to get through life," Andrew pointed out.

The Mythran sighed. "That's what I'm worried about, yet the prophecy doesn't lie about you,"

"What prophecy?" Liliana asked.

"I can go into detail, but it's already nearly time for you to wake up." As if on cue, Andrew's vision started to darken. He started to waver, and he noticed his friends doing the same. "Listen to me, the Maelstrom is at your world, searching for you."

"You need to survive."

At those words, Andrew fully blacked out, a faint ringing noise reaching his eardrums as he lost consciousness.

* * *

 **And so it begins. Sorry, it took a while to post. Writer's block, roleplaying, gaming, and school got in the way. Just a note, I have this fanfiction posted on not only this website but on another website called Sonic Stadium Message Boards. It's where I have done a lot of roleplaying and interacting lately. You should check it out while you can. Anyways, I'm in the zone right now so I might publish more often. With all that said, I'll see you next chapter!**


	3. Revelation

**LEGO Universe belongs to the LEGO Group.**

* * *

Andrew slowly opened his eyes, irritated by the beeping sound that has woken him from the weird dream. Without bothering to look, he reached out to the source of the annoying sound next to him and slammed his hand on it, ending the noise.

 _'Weird dream and I'm still feeling tired. Yup, I stayed up too long gaming again,'_ he thought as he grabbed the source of the noise; his phone.

 _'September 28, 2016; 6:32 A.M_.' Andrew read from his phone. Sitting up, the eighth-grader rubbed his eyes.

 _'Just one more week until Fall Break._ _Might as well get ready now before mom gets mad.'_

Getting off his bed, he walked out of his bedroom, being careful to not trip on any of the toys scattered across the room. ' _Why do I even still have these anyways? Aren't I getting a bit too old?'_ Andrew thought as he left his room, with one simple turn, entered the bathroom that is conveniently next door. He took a look at himself in the mirror over the sink.

Black, short, and usually neat hair that is suffering a bad case of bed hair. Brown eyes. Olive skin color. That's what Andrew saw when he looked at himself through the mirror.

He began his usual morning routine of brushing his teeth, combing his hair, and changing his clothes. Once he finished, Andrew's hair had been neatly groomed and he now wore a black t-shirt underneath a red hoodie, dark-blue jeans, white socks, and grey sneakers.

Andrew headed down the stairs, finding his mother already downstairs getting ready to leave. His mother had dark-brown hair and slightly lighter skin than Andrew's. She has always been pushing him to get good grades, and it's showing from the all A's the eighth-grader would get on his report cards from both this year and last year. However, it did take a toll on Andrew's patience and temper, which caused him to break down at times.

The boy's sisters, Cathy and Ashley, are also already downstairs waiting to leave with the mother. They both had short, black hair that reached their shoulders and slightly darker skin than Andrew's. And yes, they're twins. Andrew and the girls would often fight at times but overall they love each other very much. It tends to show when they play video games together.

Andrew's sisters have their shoes on and are about to leave soon, Andrew's mother first dropping off his sisters at elementary school and then heading off to work as an engineer for a commercial airline company.

As for the boy's father, he is a soldier for the military. He has already left an hour earlier so he wouldn't be late for work.

"Morning, Mom. Morning, girls," the eighth-grader greeted as he reached the end of the staircase.

"Good morning, Andrew," his mother greeted back. "Come on, girls. We're leaving now. Andrew, make sure the door is locked when you leave."

"Got it," Andrew replied as he watched his mom user his sisters out through the door to the garage. He could hear the garage door open and her mom's car startup, driving out of the house. The garage door closed afterward, signifying that Andrew is now alone. He sighed. "Too bad I still have to go to school."

Andrew headed out of the house through the front door, where his bike, colored green, waited in the front yard. The yard is surrounded by white picket fencing and has grass covering most of the area. The outside corners of the yard have numerous different plants that helped to liven up the place.

Despite the month being September, the temperature is still fairly warm due to the tropical climate of Hawaii.

Putting on his helmet, Andrew grabbed his bike by the handlebars and pushed it out through the gate. He hopped on, kicking the bike's stand up before riding away from the house and towards his school. Little did he realize, though, that he's being watched.

A drone, powered by four propeller rotors, is watching the boy from above. A camera has been attached to the bottom of the drone. Its cloaking device is activated, obscuring it from sight from civilian eyes. It seems to have spotted Andrew as a person of interest.

* * *

"[Are you sure this is one of the people in the prophecy?]" A robotic voice in a garbled, unknown language asked as he looked at the live feed of the drone.

"[We've been monitoring his brain waves for the last twenty-four hours through the drone]" another voice, much more organic but still speaking in the same language, replied. "[They were tampered with by an outside force. Readings indicate that macros were used to tamper with the waves.]"

"[I see,]" the robotic voice said. "[Follow the boy. We must find the rest of the prophecized.]"

"[Yes sir.]"

* * *

The drone followed Andrew, the boy unaware of it following him as he rode his bike over to his school.

* * *

Armando Orduno sighed as he put his pencil down, satisfied with the finished homework that he's done at the last second. He is in the school cafeteria, a big room with tables and chairs lining the length of it. The stage is next to the entrance of the hallway that the classroom wings are connected to. The cafeteria itself is buzzing with student activity as many teens socialize and prepare for the beginning of the school day.

Armando is wearing an orange t-shirt, blue jeans, white socks, and black running shoes. Nothing special, since it's just another school day.

As the boy put his homework away into his bag, he is greeted by a friendly voice.

"Hey, Armando."

The boy in question turned around, realizing that the voice came from Andrew. The two may not have adequately met until the beginning of middle school, but they quickly became good friends once they did.

"Oh, hi Andrew," Armando greeted back as Andrew took a seat next to him. "So, what are you doing during Fall Break?"

"Eh, probably not much. Just stay at home and play games, I guess." A typical answer from Andrew. It's a surprise to a lot of people that he managed to keep a skinny frame despite his current lifestyle. "You?"

"I heard that the school is gonna do a campus cleaning event during the break. Figured I might help out with that."

"Seriously, on break? Armando, you need to hang loose now and then. I don't want to see you overworking yourself," Andrew replied.

Armando has always been known in their small group of friends to be the yes man. He would often accept every task that people ask him to do to the point of exhaustion. It bothered his friends, including Andrew.

Armando sighed. "You're right. I just don't have any plans for Fall Break."

"We can always hang out when neither of us is busy," Andrew suggested.

"Sounds good," Armando smiled.

A few minutes of silence occurs between the two friends. Nothing else is on Armando's mind at the moment besides the weird dream that he had last night.

 _I have to know,_ Armando thought, turning to Andrew to ask him only to be interrupted.

"Armando, did you have a weird dream last night?" Andrew asked, unintentionally questioning the same thing Armando was thinking of.

"...Yeah, I did," Armando responded, taken back by the question.

"Did it involve this being called a Mythran and how it said that we're in danger?" Andrew questioned again, trying to get more information.

"Yeah it did," Armando replied as the pieces clicked together inside his mind. "Oh my God..."

"So it wasn't just a dream..."

"You had it too?"

"Yeah, it was so weird. Wait, our friends were with us as well."

"We have to tell the others," Armando stated. "We need to know if they had the dream as well."

As the two friends stood up to meet up with the others, the bell ring, signaling the start of the school day.

"Recess?"

"Recess."

* * *

Hours passed before recess began. While some students opted to stay inside the building, others went outside to wait for the next period to begin.

Jacob Perez sat on his bag, his back leaning against a wall as he worked on finishing his homework; homework that isn't due until a few days later.

Jacob is wearing a yellow t-shirt, grey shorts, grey sneakers, and white socks. He also has his eyeglasses on.

While Jacob tends to prefer working on his homework as soon as possible, it's not the whole reason why he was working right now.

 _Why can't I get that stupid dream out of my head?_ Jacob thought. He was hoping that working on his homework now would help him forget about the weird occurrence last night. It wasn't working. His dream was too vivid for him to just easily put to the side.

"You do realize that assignment isn't due until Thursday, right?" A voice asked Jacob, interrupting his train of thought. He looked up to see the voice belonging to his friend Tynan Tanaka.

Tynan is wearing a blue t-shirt, black shorts, black sneakers, and white socks.

Tynan is known as the jokester of the group, always making quips and jokes with his friends. However, there are times when he ends up offending some of his friends accidentally when he jokes around.

"Shut up, Tynan. At least I'm doing something useful," Jacob replied with some irritation in his voice.

Jacob is the hardest-working of the group, often found working on any assignment he has during his free time, working to finish them as fast and efficiently as possible. However, like Andrew, Jacob has a short temper, but not as short as the former's.

"Besides, you should help your brother out over there," Jacob pointed to another student sitting next to them, visually confused from the notes he's studying.

"This doesn't even make any sense," the student muttered to himself.

"What are you studying for, Aidan?" Tynan asked the student.

Aidan is wearing a black t-shirt, beige shorts that's knee-long, black sneakers, and white socks.

Aidan is oftentimes very anxious, usually self-doubting himself when he makes choices. It's a far cry from his brother's joking personality, but the two still manage to keep a good bond with each other.

"I've got this math test today for period six and these notes the teacher told us to write down makes absolutely no sense at all!"

Tynan sat down next to Aidan. "Here, let me see those notes," He said, starting to help his brother cram for the test

As Aidan gave the notes to his brother, a fourth student, who is also sitting next to the group, said, "Wait, we have a test today?"

"Seriously, Christian? Our teacher gave us the entire week to study!" Aidan replied in disbelief at his classmate.

Christian is wearing a white-collared, short-sleeved shirt, beige khakis, and white sneakers and socks. It was more formal than what the rest of his friends are wearing since he's trying to look cool.

As a matter of fact, Christian always tries to look good in both looks and personality. However, he tends to try too hard and ends up being embarrassed, which he hates. It didn't help that he also tends to forget important things, like the aforementioned math test.

"Well, um...I just..." the boy stuttered, trying to find a good excuse.

"You forgot?" Jacob deadpanned.

"Of course not! I was just...busy..."

"Sure you were," Jacob replied. rolling his eyes at his friend's failed attempt to still look cool.

Christian sighed. "Can you just help me out with this test?"

"Fine. Give me your notes." Jacob gestured for the student to sit down next to him and hand his notes over, setting aside his homework to do later.

Before Jacob began helping Christian, Armando's voice called out to the four boys. All of them turned their heads from the notebooks to see Armando and Andrew walking over to them.

"Hey guys," Armando casually greeted. "What's up?"

"Mostly studying, or cramming in Christian's case, for tests coming up," Jacob answered for Tynan, Aidan, Christian, and himself. Christian scowled at Jacob, feeling a little offended at the statement.

"Look, we can't talk right now, guys," Aidan said to Andrew and Armando as he and the others shifted their focus back to their notes.

"We do have to talk. It's important," Andrew replied with urgency in his voice.

Hesitantly, the boys brought their attention back to Andrew again.

Jacob sighed. "Alright, just what exactly is it?"

"Did you guys have a weird dream last night?"

Normally, Jacob would scoff at such a question and go right back to work. However, this time the question made him freeze in shock.

"So what? We all have weird dreams once in a while," Christian shrugged at the question.

Jacob turned his head towards his friends. While it seems that Aidan is also in shock, Christian and Tynan don't seem to care too much.

Tynan continued, "Yeah, so what's so important about our dreams?"

"Did your dream involve a being called a Mythran?" Andrew questioned, being more specific this time.

Tynan and Christian's bravado faltered, recalling the lucid dream that they had.

"Y-you can't be serious," Aidan stuttered, slowing coming to understand the situation.

"We're serious, Aidan," Armando grimly said otherwise.

Despite what he's hearing, Jacob still denied that this apparent "vision" is true.

"This is all just one big coincidence," Jacob argues out loud with irritation in his voice. "There's no way that some prophecy would choose us, some very normal and young teenagers, to be saviors of whatever!"

"Uh, guys?" Aidan interrupts Jacob's rant, pointing towards another group of students closeby. Judging by their weirded out expressions, it didn't take a genius for Aidan and his friends to realize that they overheard the conversation.

"Oh...um, don't mind us," Christian said, trying to think of a good explanation. "We're just...practicing for acting class. Right guys?"

"Definitely, we're not actually talking about weird stuff or anything," Andrew replied, playing along with Christian's act.

The rest of the group followed suit, trying to deny the fact that their conversation was serious. Soon enough, the other group of students rolled their eyes and turned back to each other, continuing what they were doing earlier.

Armando sighed. "That was close," he said in a lower tone, trying not to attract any more attention. "Jacob, you need to be more careful."

"I get it," Jacob snapped back, albeit in a similarly quiet tone.

A few moments of silence passed before Aidan said, "Hold on, wasn't Lily also in that dream?"

"You're right," Andrew replied. "Where is she?"

"She's in the library studying for her science test. Apparently her teacher wants her class to take the test today instead of at the end of the week," Christian answered. "I doubt that she would want to be bothered right now, especially with the lunch period ending in a few minutes."

"So we'll just meet up with her after school, then," Armando said.

"Can we do it somewhere less...crowded?" Aidan asked, a nervous look on his face. "I don't want to get any more weird looks from other students."

"What about that coffee shop nearby? Barely anyone going to this school goes there anymore ever since the smoothie bar opened up near it."

"Who's going to tell Lily, though?" Andrew asked.

"I'll do it," Christian volunteered. "You guys go ahead after school."

"Sounds like a plan, then," Tynan replied just as the school bell rung, ending the lunch period.

* * *

"Ugh, I still don't get why Mr. Jason decided to have that test today," Liliana groaned, mentally exhausted from both studying for the test and taking the said test.

"I guess he really wants to save that experiment for Friday. Then again, he could've given us the test on Thursday," another girl walking with Liliana theorized.

"Well, at least it wasn't too bad. Thanks again for helping me study, Sophia."

The girl, named Sophia, has curly black hair reaching her shoulders and fair skin color. She is wearing a white t-shirt with a cyan hoodie over it, blue jeans, white socks, and white sneakers. She is also wearing a pair of eyeglasses.

"No problem, Lily."

Liliana, often called "Lily" by her friends, is wearing a white jacket over a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and green trainers shoes. Just like Sophia, she is wearing a pair of eyeglasses.

Liliana cares a lot about those close to her, including her family and her friends. It's to a point where she tends to blame herself too much

"Anyways," Sophia continued, "I need to get home now. My parents are trying to install a new TV and I promised that I'd help them."

"Alright. See you later, Sophia!" Liliana waved, with Sophia replying with another wave before splitting up from her.

"Hey Lily," a voice behind her greeted, making the girl jump a bit before turning around, seeing Christian.

"Oh, Christian it's you. You surprised me a bit."

"Sorry. Didn't really mean to," Christian apologized. "I've been looking for you. We need to talk about last night."

Liliana's eyes widened up, realizing almost immediately what her friend was talking about. "Where's everyone else?"

"At the coffee shop nearby. Come on, the others are waiting."

"Right, okay."

* * *

As the two friends departed for the coffee shop, the drone following Andrew earlier this morning watched them leave. It has been watching over the school the entire time, spotting Armando, Tynan, Aidan, and Jacob as well in the process.

"[That's the last of the prophecized, sir,]" the organic-sounding voice notified.

"[Good,]" the robotic voice replied. "[Keep watching them. I'm going to rally the invasion force.]"

"[Yes sir.]"

"[The Darkitect will be pleased with this operation. We will have them all killed before they truly realize their role in this matter.]"

* * *

 **More than a year since this has been updated? I really need to dedicate more time to this. I'm so sorry about the long wait. I'd say that my life was in the way if it wasn't true that I was procrastinating on this. Anyways, this has got to be the longest chapter I've written so far as a fanfiction writer and I'm pretty proud of it. I'm gonna try to update this more often.**

 **Also, I decided to ditch the transitions from the last chapter that signified whose POV the story is following. I saw it as unnecessary since the story itself can just signify the POV.**

 **With that out of the way, see you next chapter!**


	4. Not Your Typical Meet Up

**LEGO Universe, Legends of Chima, Ninjago, and Nexo Knights belong to the LEGO Group.**

* * *

Mechanical stomping sounds echoed through the hallway as a big robot walked through it, heading towards its destination. The mech's one red eye seemed to shift around its eye socket as it looked through its heads-up display, overseeing the preparation of its troops in a different room. The robot's body, in contrast to its glowing red eye, glowed purple of different tones; from dark purple from the top of its head and slowly becoming lighter downwards until the bottom, which ends in its white feet. Most notable of all was that it seemed to be made out of enlarged LEGO pieces.

As the mech turned to open a door to the armory where its troops are preparing, it suddenly paused as it received a transmission from its superior. The robot accepted the call, being greeted verbally by a voice that is recognized well enough amongst both the robot and its troops.

"[ _ED-902, report,_ ]" the voice began, awaiting the mech's response.

"[My Darkitect, we have found the prophecized and we are preparing as we speak]" The mech, classified as ED-902, reported.

"[Good. This is what you and your units have been working for]" the voice, belonging to a person named the Darkitect, sounded pleased. "[I do not care who you and your troops kill, but make sure that the prophecized are included in the body count. Do not fail this mission.]"

"[Understood, my Darkitect.]"

The call ended as ED-902 opened the door to the armory, greeted by the sight of troops of different shapes and sizes gearing up for the mission.

* * *

Tynan walked back to the table where Aidan, Armando, Andrew, and Jacob are seated, having placed an order for himself. He had some spare money and decided to buy himself a drink while the group got together to talk.

The coffee shop's interior consisted of green walls and grey stone flooring. Windows took up most of the front wall, allowing plenty of sunlight to flow into the building. The group decided to sit at a table at the front wall, giving them a nice view of the outside world. Not many people come at this time in the afternoon since adults still have work and other teens don't have much of an interest to hang out here, making this shop the perfect place for Tynan and his friends to hold this impromptu meeting.

Normally, Andrew and Armando would be on their phones playing a game together, Aidan would be also on his phone doing his own thing, and Jacob would have his homework out trying to finish it. However, this meeting isn't under normal circumstances. Everyone in the group was thinking about last night.

"How much longer until they get here?" Jacob asked the group, referring to Liliana, who we will be calling Lily from now on, and Christian.

"Probably in a few more minutes," Armando answered. "Look, maybe we should try to focus on something else other than what happened last night."

"You're right," Andrew replied, thinking of a different topic to discuss. "Tynan, Aidan, do you remember the airsoft match last weekend?"

Occasionally, the three boys would play airsoft with each other when they all can find the time to. Airsoft is a sport where players shoot at each other with realistic replicas of guns that fire bbs, six-millimeter white spheres. Andrew and Tynan started playing when their fathers started to participate in the sport as well. Aidan started later than the other two after some convincing by Tynan. It took the three boys some time to get used to the painful sting from getting hit by the high-velocity orbs, but eventually, they came to enjoy the sport a lot.

"Yup, especially that one time when I hit one player in the butt during this one round. It must suck for that guy," Tynan snickered as his gaze slowly shifted towards Andrew.

"Haha, very funny, Tynan," Andrew sarcastically replied, a bit irritated that his friend brought that embarrassing and painful moment up. "But I did see Aidan hit someone from far away with his sniper rifle."

"Well, it's not too bad once you got the hang of using it," Aidan sheepishly replied, feeling a bit awkward from the sudden praise he got.

Jacob sighed. "I don't see the point of airsoft. It's a waste of time and it's painful."

"I think it's supposed to be fun once you get used to the pain," Armando responded despite not having played airsoft before.

"Maybe you could join us during fall break," Andrew suggested to the two.

"I'll pass. I've got better things to do," Jacob curtly replied.

"I guess I could try it out with you, guys," Armando answered, his yes-man behavior showing once again.

The store's front door opened as Liliana and Christian arrived, looking for the rest of the group.

"Hey, over here," Armando waved at the two friends, notifying them of where the group sat.

Lily and Christian took a seat at the table as Jacob cleared his throat, getting the group's attention. "Let's get this over with. I've got stuff that I need to do."

"Yeah, let's start," Armando agreed. "The reason why all of us are meeting here now is that we all had the same odd dream last night, and it revolves around a closed online game. LEGO Universe, right?"

"Yeah, it is LEGO Universe," Andrew replied, remembering the late massively multiplayer online game. "The floating islands and the Mythran were dead giveaways."

"You've played it before?"

"It was my favorite game before it shut down. A shame that it was closed."

"I never played or heard of this game before until now," Jacob said in response.

"Okay, who else has never played LEGO Universe?"

The rest of the group responded by raising their hands.

"Figures."

"Okay, so if Andrew is the only person here who's played this game, then why are we all in this little 'prophecy.'" Jacob questioned, not expecting a valid answer.

"I'm not sure," Christian answered, but then smiled. "But guys, think about it. If none of this stuff is actually nonsense, then we could end up going on some kind of adventure. Away from our boring, everyday lives in our efforts for the greater good. Doesn't that sound awesome?"

A silence overcomes the group as everyone hesitated to answer. Each of the teens had mixed reactions about the thought of them going on an adventure.

"Um, guys?" Christian asked, taken back by the hesitance from his friends.

Jacob sighed. "Look, Christian, while going on an adventure may sound like fun, I for one think it's going to be too much of a left turn in my life. I've been working too hard in school to suddenly have to deal with something as unbelievable as the K-Pop community becoming less toxic all of a sudden."

Tynan smirked as Jacob made that statement. "Nice one," he said as he raised his hand for a high five from the hard-worker. Jacob's hand didn't slap the jokester's, which is something that he should've expected.

"Jacob's right," Aidan agreed. "All of this just seems so... sudden. Besides, we're just middle school students. The only people in this group who have some sort of gun training are me, Tynan, and Andrew; and we've only fired airsoft guns."

"...Maybe we're missing something here," Armando said.

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't been sharing this since I was sure that no one else was involved, but the three nights before last night I've been having dreams where I was in those three LEGO TV shows that are, or were, showing on Cartoon Network. I'm pretty sure they were called _Legends of Chima_ , _Nexo Knights_ , and _Ninjago_."

This shocked Tynan immensely. He has also been having those dreams before the vision last night, but he shrugged them off as a result of watching too many cartoons. Tynan looked at his friends and judging by the looks of the rest of the group, it seems that everyone is in the same boat.

"I guess that you've also been having those dreams," Armando concluded.

"How is this supposed to help us, though?" Jacob asked.

"...I'm not really sure, to be honest."

"Exactly. They're just dreams that are related because they take place in cartoons made by the same company."

Andrew turned his head towards Lily, who has been quiet for the entire conversation so far. Now that Tynan thought about it, he realized that Liliana looks like she is troubled with something had that kept her deep in thought.

"Lily, is everything all right?" Andrew asked the girl.

Lily gave out a sigh. "I've just been thinking about this one part of the dream last night where that...Mythran told us that we have to survive."

The group froze as Lily brought this up, having forgotten to discuss this part of the dream. As Tynan processed this information, he realized that the group will have to fight, regardless of their inexperience.

"I can't believe I forgot about that," Armando said in disbelief.

Lily turned her head towards Andrew again, looking for answers. "Andrew, do you know what the Maelstrom is?"

"It's been a while since the Maelstrom crossed my thoughts, so I don't remember much. One sec." Andrew pulled out his phone and opened up its browser app. "Maybe there's a LEGO Universe Fandom page that I can look up."

"How is a closed game supposed to have a Fandom page?" Jacob asked, thinking that such a website doesn't exist.

"You'd be surprised what you can find on the internet."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a different part of the shopping center, a couple exited an Italian restaurant after having paid for their meal. The two lovers were happy as they had finished another date together.

The Hispanic woman, whose name is Maria, and the Caucasian man, named Tyler, have been in a relationship for a few years and have deepened their bond during that time frame. Despite their occasional arguments with each other, the couple loved each other unconditionally.

Now Tyler is ready to bring their relationship to the next level.

"That was a good restaurant," Maria happily said as they left the restaurant.

"I told you that you'd like it," Tyler replied, equally happy.

"Hm, it's still pretty early. Is there something else you want to do?"

Tyler hesitated at his girlfriend's question. Nothing crossed his mind as to what the two should do, except for one thing.

 _'I have to do this now.'_

"Yeah, just follow me. It's a surprise," Tyler answered, set on doing what he has been preparing to do for the past week.

Without question, Maria followed Tyler to a statue of a surfboard placed in the center of the shopping center before Tyler stopped in front of it. There were other people in the area, but that didn't deter Tyler in the slightest.

"Maria, we have been together for years now. Even through thick and thin, you've stuck with me, and I have done the same." Tyler began reaching into his back pocket, pulling out a small box before going down on one knee. This was a gesture that many people know, including Maria judging by her shocked emotion on her face. This even began to attract other people into spectating.

"I don't think that there would be someone else that I would want to spend my life with." Tyler opened the box, revealing a silver ring with a sapphire on top of it. "Maria, will you marry me?"

Maria's eyes teared up; tears of happiness. "Yes, a thousand times yes!"

The couple kissed as the people watching the proposal cheered for the two's newly engaged status.

This moment didn't last.

As Tyler and Maria broke their kiss, shots echoed through the air as people began to panic and run away from the source of the sounds; some of the screams were cut short. The couple turned towards the source of the attacks.

What Tyler saw shocked him; abominations of different shapes and sizes, mostly humanoid, attacked everyone unfortunate enough to be within their presence using different kinds of weapons, some of which were never seen before on Earth.

Before Tyler could register more about the sudden situation, another shot rang through the air; the last sound that he would hear before darkness consumed his consciousness.

He was never given the change to embrace Maria one last time.

* * *

"So that's what that Mythran was mentioning last night," Armando said after Andrew finished his internet-aided explanation about the Maelstrom.

The new information weighed heavily on Tynan's mind; a chaotic force of evil that could evolve by infecting organic beings and technology, memorizing the forms and anatomy of those forcefully pulled into its ranks so that they can be cloned for future use.

"...Do you think that the Maelstrom has grown stronger over the past few years?" Lily worriedly asked.

"I'm not too sure. I hope not, but it's still possible."

"Order for Tynan," the barista announces, indicating that the boy's drink was ready.

"One sec, guys," Tynan tells the group before going up to the counter to pick up his drink; caffeinated strawberry juice with ice cubes and strawberry slices dropped inside of it.

Just as Tynan turned back around to the table with his drink, he saw a multitude of people run past the shop, screaming in panic. The faint sound of banging and zapping could be heard coming from outside. His friends have taken notice of the mass panic and looked at where the sounds were coming from. Their faces depicted shock as they take a good look at the aggressors.

"Oh my God!" Jacob exclaims, standing up from the table.

"What the heck is happening?" Tynan asks the shaken students.

The group quickly stands up with Aidan rushing towards his brother's side.

"There's no time to explain, but we need to run!" Aidan hastily answers his brother.

"Through the back door! It's too risky to leave through the front door!" Andrew quickly tells the group.

The group quickly rushed to the shop's back door behind the counter, Aidan pulling the confused Tynan with him, causing him to spill his drink.

"What's happening?" The barista asks the group, dumbfounded at the sudden predicament she found herself in.

"Just go through the back door!" Andrew yells at her, the group entering through the aforementioned door. The barista quickly follows suit, understanding of Andrew's tone of voice.

The store was left empty as the chaos grows outside, the spilled drink over the grey stone floor serving as the only sign that the group was here.

* * *

Hael Storm stood behind his giant golden telescope in the Nexus Tower's observatory, reminiscing how it overlooked the scattered lands of LEGO Universe. Now, the only thing that one could see through the telescope was Earth.

The pirate gave out a sigh before turning to leave the room, not before being stopped by the sound of a holographic Minifigure taking form next to the telescope. The Minifigure was mostly colored grey with light-blue accents scattered throughout her form, resembling wiring connected throughout her entire body. She also dons a helmet that covered the entire backside of her head.

"Naomi, I presume that my scouts have news for me," Hael says to the hologram.

"They have good and bad news," Nexus Naomi replies. "Which one do you want to hear first?"

"The bad news, lass," The Venture League faction leader answers.

"The Maelstrom has made the first contact with the denizens of this world, and they are slaughtering them."

"And the good news?"

"They're not 100% sure, but the scouts think that the Stromlings are looking for the people in that prophecy that Vanda mentioned. If that's true, then they won't last long down there."

Hael's face morphed from sorrow to determination. "Deliver this news to the other faction leaders and notify every member to gear up. We need to get down there and rescue the lads."

"But Hael, our forces are barely strong enough to fight and what your scouts reported is just speculation."

"I'm taking that risk. We've been watching from the shadows for too long and that gave the Maelstrom time to grow. Not this time, never again."

* * *

 **Welp, things just went from 10 to 100 fast. Our heroes will now have to defend themselves against the Maelstrom, who have grown to become stronger and more aggressive than ever before.**

 **This COVID-19 pandemic forced many people into their homes, including me and my family. With my internet slowing down for no reason (I hate Spectrum), what is a better time than now to start focusing more on this story?**

 **The proposal scene was a big obstacle for me since I have absolutely no experience whatsoever on romance (watching those romance shows don't count at all). Still, I hope that this should suffice for now.**

 **Special thanks to Mr. Nobody for helping me with proofreading this chapter before submission. He definitely taught me a few things on grammar that I didn't know up until now. So thanks, man!**

 **I have nothing else to say, so see you next chapter! And stay safe!**


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